Lucca and Pisa

Saturday May 6

Even though it was forecasted to rain all day this Saturday, we had waited until the very last minute to go to the nearby Lucca and Pisa – this was the only other time we could do it! Casey, Jordan, and I braved the elements and trained over to Lucca first.

Lucca

Lucca is known for its standing and complete city walls. Every city had city walls at some point, but Florence’s have been taken down almost completely and expanded – somehow Lucca’s remain and you can walk along the top of them. Our first stop was to get some coffee and we sat at this café drinking cappuccino and watching the rain for awhile. It was a great place to people watch on this quiet Saturday morning.

Some type of car show

The rest of our time in Lucca was spent going in and out of quirky shops and walking around exploring the city. Just walking around in the rain and enjoying everything made for a great afternoon.

We scouted out an amazing restaurant called Osteria da Rosolo and had a good experience there interacting with our waitress. Casey got mad at me for taking so long to decide what to get from the menu… there were so many options that I wanted to try! Jordan and I both ended up getting a polenta with meat sauce and Casey got some yummy pici pasta with ragu. Both pici and polenta are traditional dishes for the area and we scraped our plates clean.

The last thing we did in Lucca was climb one of the towers. The top of the tower was covered with huge trees which was really unique and it gave a panoramic view of the city. The mountains in the distance were breathtaking.

On top of the walls

When we arrived at the train station to leave, unfortunately we watched one of the trains pull away from the platform as we were buying the tickets at a kiosk. So, we had 30 minutes to spare and sat on a bench chatting. Funny enough, we sat on this bench for so long that we didn’t give ourselves enough time to get to our platform…we sprinted down and up some stairs and made it just in time to touch the train and watch it pull away right in front of us. So, we got to sit at the train station another 30 minutes.

Pisa

Pisa was just a short ride away from Lucca. It felt weird being at Pisa Centrale and actually staying there instead of catching the bus to the airport. It took us about 20 minutes to walk to see the tower – I had been here before but I forgot how much it was actually leaning over! By the time we got there, the rain was coming down so hard and we were all soaking wet. I had an umbrella but it was raining sideways so I was still soaking wet. Casey’s umbrella had broken in the wind so she was trying her best to hide under me and Jordan’s umbrellas but it wasn’t doing her any good. So, we didn’t spend much time here because it was impossible for pictures.

On the way out of town, we stopped at a stand and got some hilarious hotdogs – but it actually tasted yummy. Casey also had a freak out because there was a gelato shop with kitkat gelato which is her favorite. So, we got some more well-deserved treats and headed back home to Florence.

We were all so tired from walking around in the rain all day, but I was still happy to have gone. It made me regret not making more time to go see the nearby cities – hopping on a train is so easy, why did I wait until I didn’t have any more time?